By Teresa Rivas

Shares of Apple (AAPL) hit a new seven-month high of $513.23 earlier today, building on gains it saw last week, and outpacing the Nasdaq’s gains (the only major index in the black at the moment).

One piece of news that could be helping the stock is that Apple has hired Jay Blahnik to work on its anticipated smartwatch, according to 9to5Mac. (This comes after last week’s reports that Samsung Electronics (005930KS) would be unveiling its own watch-smartphone device, the Galaxy Gear, as early as September.)

Blahnik comes to Apple after consulting for companies as diverse as Gatorade and General Electric (GE), notesStreetInsider.com. However, perhaps most relevant to his new job is his time spent at Nike (NKE), where he worked on a number of the sporting gear giant’s products, including the recent Fuel Band, the lightweight activity tracker that users wear on their wrists.

In addition, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company has asked assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry to ship two new iPhones next month: a high-end device as well as a lower-end version. The report cites anonymous sources close to the situation.

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There are 5 comments

AUGUST 19, 2013 2:56 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

Why does Samsung want to call their watch the Gear? Does their CEO by chance have a gerbil up his you know what?

AUGUST 19, 2013 3:58 P.M.

Karen Miller wrote:

Pennystockchief^dotcom (Dot means .), is a central hub for analysis on AAPL stock as it provides great insight

AUGUST 19, 2013 3:59 P.M.

stargazerCt wrote:

@Anonymous: Samsung could only come up with something generic for now (i.e. "gear") because Apple does not have anything on the market and they rushed to put together something when the rumor broke. As soon as Apple releases their smart watch, Samsung will have something to copy from...including coming up with a better name. They just need the inspiration from someone else...that's what they do best!

AUGUST 19, 2013 5:10 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

@ StargazerCT.

Agree. Something else though. Should Samsung's design ontology not be anywhere near Apple's level they will pull their stuff... And re inspiration. Has an anthropologist ever asked a Cargo Cult for their input on whether it's inspiration or what? You know. After monkey see monkey do. Some chimps eventually get to be known as fabulous crap throwers like Samsung.

AUGUST 20, 2013 1:21 A.M.

Anonymous2 wrote:

Relax guys. Samsung has no ecosystem to speak of. Apple's watch will be integrated within the ecosystem. And with Apple's iOS7 and AuthenTec security on the iPhone, the combination of the watch and the iPhone will be a killer app, and something that Samsung will be not be able to copycat its way out of for quite sometime. There is an awful lot of worrying and scrambling going on at Samsung HQ.

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Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.